Crack Puts New Millstone Around Haitians' Necks

October 30, 1986|By Mildred A. Williams of The Sentinel Staff

When Luckner Milien hears people talking about crack cocaine and Haitians in the same conversation he worries that many people hold his countrymen responsible for the problems associated with the deadly drug.

Although he knows some Haitians sell the cheap, highly addictive form of cocaine and he believes they should be punished, Milien said he can't help thinking that ''there's something deeply racist'' about the way police identify Haitians as major suppliers of the drug.

Milien and other Haitians say they are concerned about crack cocaine because of its harmful effects. But they also worry that every time officials link Haitians to crack, it further hurts their chances of assimilating into American society.

''It makes it bad for the rest of us who are hard workers,'' said Milien, a Haitian outreach specialist for the Office of Farmworkers Ministry in Apopka. ''I wish I could go somewhere and just tell everyone that not all Haitians sell cocaine.''

Police statewide say they realize that only a small percentage of Haitians sell crack, and they know that people of other nationalities are also dealing in the drug. However, they said, recent arrests and seizures show that Haitians control the crack business, at least in Florida.

''They Haitians are the major suppliers of crack cocaine,'' said Lt. Malone Stewart, who is in charge of drug enforcement for the Orange County Sheriff's Office. ''They've got connections from the Caribbean and they've got a language all their own.''

Lt. Dave Smith, who heads the drug enforcement division of the Orlando Police Department, said, ''Everytime we go into an area to do a crack cocaine investigation, we're running into more Haitians. They seem to be monopolizing the crack cocaine business.''

But Sister Pierre Marie Armand, a Catholic nun who runs a ministry for Haitians near downtown Orlando, said Haitians are scapegoats in the crack crisis.

Armand said labeling Haitians as the main dealers of crack is part of a conspiracy to force Haitians out of the United States, much like in 1983 when Haitians were considered one of the groups most susceptible to AIDS, or acquired immune deficiecy syndrome, the deadly disease that breaks down the body's immune system.

Like many other Haitian immigrants, Armand feels that putting Haitians in the high-risk AIDS group led to discrimination against them. She said the discrimination did not subside even after federal health officials reported, in April 1985, that Haitians do not have a high risk of AIDS.

''Tuberculosis, AIDS, every sickness or thing that can kill right away, they put on Haitians. It was such harassment for Haitians. Everybody was suffering,'' she said. ''It's the same with cocaine. Many, many Haitians in communities I visit are suffering from this discrimination.''

Armand said she has heard stories of innocent Haitians being accosted by police officers who think they are selling drugs. Believing their dark skin and accent make them targets for police harassment, many young Haitian men are afraid to walk the streets, she said.

If Haitians were major suppliers of crack, she said, ''they would have better houses, nice cars.''

Law enforcement officials say Haitian crack dealers definitely profit from the illegal drug trade -- they just haven't become comfortable enough with it to enjoy the luxuries the business sometimes affords.

''Most of them continue to work as many as two service jobs while selling crack,'' Stewart said.

Although some will splurge on fast cars, most Haitian dealers appear to be squirreling their money away -- possibly to send to relatives in Haiti who are dissatisfied conditions there, police said.

One Haitian drug suspect had deposited more than $20,000 in a savings account in less than a month just before he was arrested, Orlando police said. Orange County officials say they have confiscated between $3,000 and $10,000 in cash in every drug raid involving Haitian crack dealers.

Crack, a rocklike form of cocaine that is smoked, appeared on the Florida drug scene about five years ago. It became popular in Orlando two years ago when a group of young, black males -- nicknamed the ''Miami Boys'' because of their South Florida ties -- set up shop in the city's western limits, police said.

In the last year and a half, though, police say Haitians have taken over the crack trade in most Central Florida communities.

In what was called the largest crack seizure in Central Florida, Orlando police last month confiscated 3.6 pounds of the drug, with a street value of about $200,000. Three Haitians were arrested.

''If you've got the ability to do $200,000 worth of crack, you are a major dealer,'' Smith said.

Most Central Florida law officials trace the Haitian crack connection to Fort Pierce.

''Before anybody else had a crack problem, we had it,'' said Lt. Grover Cooper, in charge of special investigations for the Fort Pierce Police Department.